Ink jet printing processes may employ inks that are solid at room temperature and liquid at elevated temperatures. Such inks may be referred to as solid inks, hot melt inks, phase change inks and the like. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,731, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses an apparatus for dispensing phase change ink for printing on a recording medium such as paper.
In general, hot melt phase change inks are in the solid phase at ambient temperature, but exist in the liquid phase at the elevated operating temperature of an ink jet printing device. At the jetting temperature, droplets of liquid ink are ejected from the printing device and, when the ink droplets contact the surface of the recording medium, either directly or via an intermediate heated transfer belt or drum, they quickly solidify to form a predetermined pattern of solidified ink drops.
Phase change inks for color printing typically comprise a phase change ink carrier composition which is combined with a phase change ink compatible colorant. Because hot-melt solid inks printers often operate at printhead temperatures of 135° C. and higher, they often employ thermally stable and wax-soluble colorants that can withstand these relatively high operating temperatures. Examples of such colorants are the Phthalocyanine dyes disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,523, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. These colorants are high-chroma phthalocyanine chromophore structures that are known for use as cyan dyes suitable for use in hot melt ink compositions. The Phthalocyanine dyes include waxy substituents that increase dye solubility in a waxy ink environment.
True “vibrant” magenta dyes are difficult to come by and hot melt ink soluble and stable versions are even more difficult to obtain. Most commercially available magenta dyes do not meet the performance requirements for solid ink. One example of a magenta dye that is known for use in solid inks is a wax soluble Rhodamine dye that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,493, the disclosur e of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Due primarily to the “economy of scale,” this dye is quite expensive because it is custom manufactured. Additionally, the dye suffers problems with diffusion through the ink matrix, easily bleeding into other colored areas in prints within several days.
The process for synthesis of generic phenoxy substituted Copper phthalocyanines and Boron subphthalocyanines is also well known in the chemical arts. Such dyes generally are not very soluble in current hot melt ink platforms and hence cannot be used. Lack of solubility of dyes is generally known to cause problems in ink formulations, such aggregation of the dye and/or blooming.
The magenta dye known in the dye industry as Boron subphthalocyanine chloride has been more of an academic curiosity because of difficulty in preparation and for solubility reasons. See the compound of formula 1 below.

New magenta dye compounds and processes for making such compounds that address one or more of the problems of known magenta dyes and/or provide magenta dye alternatives would be considered a step forward in the art. In addition, the ability to manufacture multiple custom-made dyes, such as both Cyan and Magenta dyes, using the same chemical intermediate compounds, could potentially provide a significant cost reduction.